Toy



April 6, 1926, f

A. c. HE'MPEL TOY fie -April 6 1925.

A. c. HEMPEL TOY Fil ed May 20, 1925 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 jmnewtoz;

sal ne 7 Patented Apr. 6, 1926;

.AKTHUR o. JHEMPEL, orzimr'norr, :"MICI-IIGAN.

all whom it mdyfcoac emf I 'f FfBfitlknown that I,' ARTHUR'C. HEMPEL, a

fciltizen of the United States; residing at Deti-o in the county of Wayne'and S ta'teof h ig'an'," have invented certa n ,newand ijuse'ful' Improvements in Toys, of which the T'iiil1ow""gis'jaspecification. f 1 This nvention relate tq .ailteypand has object the construction ofj na device for its p i'llf automat cally open at predeh' I rninedlti ne,tofdischarge"the contents of "the crevice. This device is more particularly adapted for 'usei as a toy which may he thrown in v the; air, by children; and I when the ttains the desired height it willopen anddischargea parachutewhichwill open gently fall'tothe ground. k T Th'eco-nsftructionof this parachuteissuch tliat'jt'he sainepositively opens but maybe ao'readily collapsed "and reinserted in the hiolder fqr "repeating the operation. Such "a constructiion afsflI have] described may be -employedwit "aplurality of parachutes or 3131 dev e I or t y V r h p y and quickly madeland may be operated withyery little trouble, and yet the'sannje positive 1n its Operation -andprovicles a very entertains t o sc i dr n-i elnthe drawings: -;--Fig. 1 ,is a"perspective View of the toy when closed. f F-igs2' is a perspective view of the toy' a' plurality oflparawhen opened showing chutes position-ed therein.

Fig: 3 is an edge elevationof the toyshowfingfithe same" in the process of opening. 1

F-igft'is aflperspective view of theparachute; showing the: initial step in opening -the same. l i a Fig.5 is a perspective view of the para- -chute fully opened. s

r V Fig;l6 is a detail cf the blank used. in Lniaking the parachute; F ii Y s v Th s-toy consists of-abook shaped closure .member which consists of apair of relatively stifi flat'members,=a'and b,;and which are-hinged together, as atj c: spring d yieldin'gly forces these two meinbers a and b apart so as to open thefclosure. Integral with the closure halves, 's ecured' thereto thy "aseparate ineans, I have shown in the a i iiic tibafiiaina 20,,1235 ,sssi 31,565."

a a a litiQiled as tofli'e adjlacent to 'ea'chothen when I'pre'fe r: 1l)ly plaeejone or nore collapsible jparac'hutes f 'injtliis closure and when the the halyes' a -and Z) are brought together;

'iq l ft ihut fsi re.hld heit bet e n-a -Iipr Q yid g i ejans' for temporarily holdingflthis ure [11 enclosed position by "securing i il stic m mb r ,qf n -9i t s-l im's"a ,ali 't e 'Hrm'sfiiwhic aieSO ibl s at 1h, and then 'windingthis elasticiineinher 1 To use he toy, t

i eight fiabout twenty or thirty feet and lohviously when it is thrown'thefelastic member is released and. will unwind. This is so designed as to unwindwhenthe toy reaches I height" of abOUt twenty or thirty feetjjiit f wilL-then disconnect the arms and perr'nit'the spring d to open theelosure; This willpe'r- 's thrown in'theair to'a nit; this parachutes to fall out, which "will ope'nfup: and' drift.slow1y tolthe ground.

WVheriitis desired to use the toy again the parachute is merely. picked up andjjfolded .fltogetlier and placed-inthe closure: as before. "One'ofgthezinain features of my parachute :is that ths'ssme. is so construetedthat itiwill -'("1iiick1y open when the saine is rele'ased' from the closure. fiIL fOI'lII this parachute of very 'fi i s m e al 1 Way ipaper, I I taketheiblankifasshown in Fig. 6, crease an d fol'd in each corner along the dotted 7 "line 7 I thenfold these turned inflaps' bac'k along the dotted line In. 1 These creases and folds are put in by the manufacturer 'and jthe-'parachute is very readily folded up again-due to'these sharpcreases which have been placed'inxthe flexible material. 1' I provide 2i relatively stiff spider m which is pro- -g'vided with-a plurality of arms, the'end of eachhr in being securedtoa eorner of the fiexibleliody portion of the parachute. This.

5 relatively stifli spider has secured at thceniter a weight '11. WVhen the parachute isre- 5 leased this weight pulls down von the spider .i and opens up the parachute, as shown in Fig; 5, and thepar achutedrifts' slowly to the l h'el mainfidea'is such a toy is to have "af parachute which will open v 'alniost i nn ediately {upon heingreleased from the cl 'sure" whichhas been thrown in the air. I'

borne along one edge or accomplish this by a combination of two principles: First, when the cover halves fly open it creates a suction between the two halves and tends to partially open the parachute and also throws the parachute out of the closure. The second aid in opening the parachute is the fact that the weight n which is secured to the spider at the center is positioned so as to lie extended out from the center of the parachute, as shown in Fig. 2. This weight could be projected to one of the sides or one of the corners. The weight of this suspended weight is one corner of the parachute and tends to Weight this side down, as shown in Fig. 4:, andtends to overturn the parachute and position the same in the correct position for opening the flexible part of the parachute. It is obvious that there are numerous ways of constructing this weight and of securing the same to the spider, but I find that a welght which is suspended from the spider at the center and adapted to lie to one side thereof when the parachute isrcollapsed, tend to open the parachute much more quickly.

My toy overcomes most of the disadvantages which are present in the prior art, wherein a cloth or flexible parachute member is crumpled up inside of a closure which flies open to release the parachute at a given time. It is found that a flexible parachute which is not folded properly does not open up very readily. Also the use of strings in a toy parachute prohibits the same from opening up quickly because the strings get tangled together. I have found that my parachute will open up generally in a fall of about eighteen inches. This is a much better performance than has been obtained with the use of the. devices found in the prior art. Another advantage from folding these parachutes, as shown, is that the same maybe folded flat and enables one to place a plurality of parachutes in one closure.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In a toy, the combination of a flat closure constructed of two flat halves hinged together, means tending to yieldingly force the two halves apart, each half provided with an arm, said arms arranged to lie adjacent to each other when the closure is in closed position, and an elastic member secured to one arm and adapted to be wrapped around both arms to hold the closure in a closed position but permitted to unwind when released to allow the closure to open at a predetermined time for releasing the contents of the closure. v

2. In a toy, the combination of a flat closure constructed of a pair of flat and relatively stilt members hinged together, means tending to yieldingly force the hinged members apart, the Said hinged members each provided with an arm, said arms arranged to lie adjacent to each other when the closure is in closed position, and an elastic member secured to one arm and adapted to be wrapped around both arms to hold the closure in a closed position but permitted to unwind when released to allow the closure to open at a predetermined time for releasing the contents of the closure.

3. In a toy, the combination of a bookshaped closure constructed of a pair of flat cardboard members hinged together, spring means tending to yieldingly force the hinged members apart, the said hinged members each provided with an arm, said arms arranged to lie adjacent to each other when the closure is in closed position, and an elastic member secured to one arm and adapted to be wrapped around both arms to hold the closure in a closed position but permitted to unwind when released to allow the closure to open at a predetermined time for releasing the contents of the closure.

l. in a toy, the combination of a closure constructed of a pair of flat and relatively stiff members hinged together, means tending to yieldingly force the hinged member apart, means for temporarily holding said closure in a closed position but arranged to automatically release ata predetermined time to permit the closure to open, and one or more collapsible parachutes held between said hinged members when the closure is held in closed position, said parachutes constructed of relatively light flexible material folded to lie flat when collapsed, whereby the suction created by the opening of said closure partially opens said collapsible parachutes. I I

5. A toy comprising an angularly shaped member of flexible material which is creased and folded in at the corners to form a collapsible parachute, a spider secured to the folded in corners of said parachute, and a weight secured to said spider which serves to open said parachute when the same is released and permitted to fall to the'ground.

6. A toy comprising an angularly shaped member of flexible material which is creased and folded in at the corners, said folded in portions creased and folded outwardly to form a double fold, thereby forming a collapsible parachute, a spider having arms which are each secured to one of the folded corners of the said parachute, and aweight secured to said spiderwhich serves to open said parachute when the same .is released and permitted to fall to the ground, the said arms holding the corners of the parachute apart to prevent the collapsing of the parachute when falling.

7. A toy comprising an angularly shaped member of flexible material the corners of to be suspendedfrom the center of said which are creased and folded inwardly and [spider which serves to open said parachute 7 then creased and folded back on themselves when the same is released and permitted te 10 to form a collapsible parachute, a relativefall to the ground. f

ly stiff spider having a plurality of arms, In testimony whereof I have aflixed my each. arm being secured to one corner of the signature. collapsible parachute, and a weight arranged I v ARTHUR C. HEMPEL. 

